STOOL . ‘In older English (including AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ) “stool” was used freely for any kind of seat’ ( DB [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] iv. 621); similarly the Heb. kissç ’ includes both chairs and stools, see House, § 8 . In the difficult passage Exodus 1:16 the word rendered ‘stools’ in the sense of birth-stools ( sella parturientis ) must be pointed to read ‘stones’ ( ’abnáyim for ’obnáyim , both dual number), the reference being to the two stones or bricks on which a woman sat during her accouchement. This widely spread custom has been conclusively shown to have existed in ancient Egypt by Spiegelberg ( Ægypt. Randglossen , 19 25), from the realistic representation preserved in an early hieroglyphic sign for birth, confirmed by literary references.
A. R. S. Kennedy.